


Not Quite my Rodeo.

by TheRavenclawPaladin



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Horse Racing, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Cowboy Keith (Voltron), Cuban Lance (Voltron), Emotional Manipulation, English rider lance, F/F, F/M, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff and Angst, Gay Keith (Voltron), Horseback Riding, M/M, Not Beta Read, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, why is that not a tag
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-28
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2020-03-20 16:20:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18996187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheRavenclawPaladin/pseuds/TheRavenclawPaladin
Summary: Working with Horses is hard. Especially when working with a horse with trust issues. But that's easy when compared to the struggle of working with stubborn English rider Lance McClain.At least he has Red. Right?





	1. Not in my Rodeo

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my Voltron Horseback riding Au! I'm new to Ao3 so this might not be amazing, But thanks for reading anyways! Updates are probably going to be pretty slow, Sorry about that!

“Pidge you physically shouldn’t be able to do that.” Keith watched in horror as Pidge -Voltron Stable’s resident trick rider- just grinned and bent herself over even farther on the mats in Voltron’s main barn, managing to put her hands flat behind her heels.  
“Keith chill out. This isn’t even the farthest I can go. Besides you know Viridi makes it so that I have to go at least twice this far to do even a basic trick.”  
I shook my head and swung a little on my cinch swing, only Pidge would name her horse in latin. “Okay but seriously if we don’t go inside and clean our tack before the competition tomorrow we’re dead.”  
Pidge finally sat up and unfolded herself, “You’re right. Hunk would murder us.”  
“Hunk? Nah, he’s too nice. It’s Shiro that we need to worry about. He would destroy us for not cleaning our tack ‘properly’ Why do we need to have our tack look perfect anyways? It’s not like anybody that cares is gonna show up to watch us ride.” I snorted in a way reminiscent of my blanket appaloosa, Red, and started to the overstocked tack room, pausing before I went to far and saying hi to the previously mentioned horse.  
Hunk and Shiro are the ones who keep everything going around here. Shiro runs the finances and keeps the place running in the funds department as well as giving lessons and training us in his spare time. Hunk is the muscle of the place; he feeds the horses and mucks out their stalls in the mornings and evenings in exchange for being let to stay at the house with Coran and Shiro.  
“Oh haven’t you heard? Coran’s expanding the stable to include English Riders™ and they’re coming to see us ride tomorrow.” Pidge gave me a smug smirk and narrowed her eyes slightly. She pulled out her phone and showed me the calendar. Surprisingly, even with how often she got her phone filthy while attempting new tricks on viridi, it was spotless.  
I stopped in my tracks and grabbed the phone from her. “He’s doing what?! How did I not hear about this?”  
“You’re kidding? Coran’s been telling us about them for two weeks! They came and toured the facilities last week!” She grabbed her phone back from me and dusted it off.  
“Pidge, you know that I hate people and always take Red out when they come to visit!” I whined. Voltron’s located on over 100 acres of riding space, so getting away isn’t difficult.  
“Chill Keith. They’re not that bad. Lance can be a bit high strung but he’s nice enough. And Allura can be kinda, blunt, but they’re both really sweet.” She wiggled her eyebrows at me.  
“They’re english riders. No matter what they’re going to be stuck up, snobbish, fools with no love for horses.”  
Pidge rolled her eyes and scoffed at me, “That’s a bit biased, don’t you think?”  
“No. I know english riders. If they’re anything like the Galra and co then they’re going to be exactly like that.”  
“Whatever Keith. But just don’t screw up tomorrow. Coran is counting on us to qualify for regions.” She opened the door to our tack room and went to grab her rodeo saddle and bridle, leaving me to mope about tomorrow. 

***

“You’re kidding me.” I let my mouth fall open in shock as I sat upside down on my horse  
“Lance, get off of Azula before you fall on your head.”  
“C’mon Llura! Azula doesn’t mind! Do ya girl?” Lance looked to his shagya arabian bay who snorted and shifted quickly to the side causing Lance to fall off and onto his butt, “Rude.”  
“That’s what you get for being dumb. But in all seriousness, yes, we are going to the rodeo tomorrow and there’s nothing you can do to stop it.”  
“You want me, the best show jumper in all of Washington to go to a country hick rodeo and watch some cowboys run around because we’re moving to their stable. No way, not doing it. Not gonna happen.”  
“Lance be nice about this. We need somewhere to go. Besides my uncle’s so excited to see us! It’s a new state full of new possibilities!”  
I finally got off the ground, “Just because I like the way you say my name princess, doesn’t mean that I’m going to do it.”  
Allura glared at me from over the back of her horse, a white arabian by the name Reina, “Do it or I’ll shorten all your stirrups to the final notch and hide your helmet.”  
I gasped, “You wouldn’t dare!”  
She cocked her head to the side and tossed her hair, “Wouldn’t I? Do you really want to risk that Lance? Your favorite helmet, gone. Poof.”  
“Ugh. Fine! I’ll go, but I won’t like it!” I groaned and leaned into Azula’s furry coat.  
“Good boy. Now. I’m going to put Reina away and go to bed. You can feed tonight. And stop calling me princess would you? It’s annoying.” Allura un-tied Reina and started walking to the temporary pasture that we had set up until we moved to Voltron Stable.  
I stuck my tongue out at her as she walked away and turned to Azula, wanting nothing more than to just climb on her back and ride away into the sunset.  
Instead of doing that I just put her away and and fed them both, mentally preparing myself for the next day.

***

“Ay Pidge. Is your boyfriend showing up today?” I turned from grooming Red and asked her.  
“Umm. No Sendak won’t be there. He’s busy.” Pidge slightly curled into herself and focused more on brushing Viridi,, her voice fading a bit.  
I should have known better than to bring up Sendak. He’s Pidge’s boyfriend of two years, but you wouldn’t know it from the way he treats her; always putting her down when she does well and making her feel invalid when she messes up. I’ve been urging her to break up with him but she claims that she doesn’t want to start anything.  
“Sorry for bringing it up Pidge. Let’s just focus on doing really well today and having a great time. Besides, today we get to do single stake and the big T! Your best runs!”  
“We’re also doing a star pattern Keith. The actual worst pattern of all time.” Pidge had to jump up over Viridi’s back to glare at me properly because of how short she was, causing Viridi to look back at her sharply and take a step to the side.  
“Okay, okay! I was just trying to cheer you up a bit! Jeez. Are you pmsing or something?” I teased her with a grin knowing fully well that she could stab me in my sleep if she wanted to.  
“Ask me that again and I’ll murder you in your sleep tomorrow.” She gave me a flat look over the top of Viridi’s back.  
“Sorry. Sorry. Shutting up now.”  
We worked quietly for a bit occasionally dancing to the music that we had playing from a speaker of Pidge’s. It was our get ready playlist; even the horses knew what it meant, a combination of show tunes that she had done routines to and some rodeo music that they would be playing today.  
Our pre-rodeo routine was pretty boring. Get there at 5:00, have all tack and feed loaded into the trailer by 6:00 groom the horses and have them ready by 7:00 and be out of there by 7:30. We were expected to show up dressed and ready on our own time, in a pair of cowboy boots, a long sleeved shirt tucked in with a collar, jeans, and a cowboy hat. Any time from 5:00 to roughly 3:00 was dedicated to the horses. Coran and Shiro come out at about 7:00 and Hunk shows up at the same time we do. Rodeo day is always the most chaotic day of the year for us. Because Pidge and I aren’t the only people who ride at Voltron (We are the oldest though) we’re expected to be ready slightly early so that we can help the younger kids get ready. Voltron has about twenty horses ranging from the ages 3-24 so our hands are always pretty full.  
Only ten of the horses are going today but that still makes for an exciting morning. So far today I’ve fixed 3 broken cinches, two missing bridles and who knows how many spooked horses. Most of our riders are still pretty young, ages 9-13 give or take, me and Pidge are currently the oldest riders, I’m 19 and Pidge is 18. So we get a lot of responsibilities around here.  
“Keith. Stop daydreaming and pay attention to Red.” Shiro told me finally coming out of the house to say good morning.  
“Sorry, dad. But you do have to admit that her muscle tone’s really gotten quite defined. We’re almost ready for the ARC!” I turned away from Red and gave Shiro a smirk.  
Shiro laughed, “I sure hope so! Because you’re never going to guess what came in the mail this morning!” He held up a letter and I died.  
Not literally. But it was really exciting, the ARC stands for the Altea Regional Championships, the most difficult to qualify rodeo in the state of Texas. It also has a english circuit that it’s pretty well known for but the rodeo championship is what I’m the most excited for.  
“Have you opened it yet? Did we get in?” Both Pidge and I had entered for our respective talents back in the fall and had been waiting for the return letters for months.  
“I was hoping to open in with you both. But that’s going to have to wait until Pidge exits her state of shock.” He looked to Pidge who had frozen a moment ago with her brush mid stroke and was yet to unfreeze.  
I walked over to her, carefully avoiding Red and Viridi’s butts and nudged her, “Pidge! Stop panicking so that we can open the letter!”  
She finally seemed to wake up and get it together and looked to Shiro impatiently.  
He laughed at both of us and pulled a letter opener from his pocket and opened it.  
“Dear Keith Kogane and Pidge Holt,  
It is my greatest pleasure to inform you that your skills and passion for horses has qualified you for the preliminary rounds in the ARC rodeo and trick riding circuits-” Pidge cut him off with a shriek and jumped into his arms smiling ear to ear. Shiro caught her easily and chuckled lightly into her ear.  
The moment was strangely intimate and made Keith feel out of place. It was no secret that he was touch starved, and that he felt out of place when faced with pda but this was worse than usual. This wasn’t even PDA, it was Pidge giving Shiro -his older brother- a hug. Nothing that should set him off.  
He shook his head and focused on brushing Red, perhaps a bit more forcefully than necessary but if she noticed she didn’t react.  
The moment was ruined when Viridi gave a loud snort and startled Pidge from his arms. After Shiro and Pidge finished celebrating and Pidge finally went back to getting Viridi ready, Shiro started running through the rodeo morning checklist with Keith.  
“Water buckets?” Check, “Leads?” Check, “vet wrap?” Check, “What about the extra helmets for the kids? Do we have the extra halters? What about the feed?” His voice sped up with every item, rising in pitch and panic.  
“Shiro chill. Everything is already loaded up. Tack is ready, breakfast in the cab, vet kit packed already, Hunk’s already taken the first load of kids and horses over to the arena.”  
Shiro groaned and leaned into Red’s side, “What would I do without you guys?”  
“Forget that you’re riding today too and not be able to ride because you forgot to get Kosmo ready.” Pidge offered from behind Viridi.  
Shiro’s face dropped, “Oh, I guess that I did forget that I was riding today…”  
“Good thing that we didn’t!” Pidge dropped her metal curry comb into the nearest brush box and took off.  
Shiro stared after her with a soft look then turned to me, “So? How’s it feel to be entered into the ARC?”  
I grinned at him and turned away from Red for a moment, “Honestly? Not that different? I mean, yeah I’m excited but I don’t feel all that different? Is that weird?”  
“Not at all Keith. You’re one of the best barrel riders I’ve ever met and your bond with Red is really strong. So I’m not all that surprised that you don’t feel any different. It’s the sign of a good rider.”  
I nudged him, “Like you know anything about that. Mr. my girlfriend had to get my horse ready for me!”  
Shiro turned bright red, “She’s not my girlfriend! I just have a deep respect for her riding abilities. She just also happens to be very pretty.”  
Pidge chose that moment to come back, riding Kosmo bareback with his leadrope as reigns. Her 5’3 frame dwarfed by all of Kosmo’s 19 hands. She rode him up to Shiro and looked down upon him, “You know Shiro, you look awful short from up here.”  
“Oh shush Mrs. five foot one inch of sass.” He smirked a little and grabbed Kosmo’s lead.  
Pidge slid off Kosmo and spent a good three seconds in the air before hitting the ground lightly. She barely seemed to care about the fact that she physically shouldn’t be able to land things like that without some kind of injury.  
Shiro wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and took a deep breath, “Know what Pidge? Go deal with Viridi and load her up.”  
“Will do Shiro!” Pidge bounded over to Viridi and untied her before vaulting up and riding off toward the trailer.  
Shiro turned to me, “You too Keith. You’re gonna miss registration if you don't leave within the next ten minutes.”  
“I’ll make it! But the other kids need help getting ready. I’ll leave with the last group.”  
Shiro gave Kosmo an affectionate pat on the shoulder and looked at me with his patented dad look, “Keith, I may be missing an arm but I’m still perfectly capable of getting a few schoolies ready.”  
I winced, “Sorry Shiro. I’ll just go and trailer up Red with Viridi. You know that they hate to travel apart.” Laughing I grabbed Red and ran out of there.


	2. Maybe it is my Rodeo?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three strides forward and through the gate. Two steps and a stop. Take a deep breath.   
> Circle at a trot. Hear Shiro in my ear telling me not to go yet.   
>  Not yet. Not yet. Almost. Hold him.   
> Now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yes, I am using this fic to talk about things that my appy has done.

Pulling into the arena was like a breath of fresh air. As much as I prefer trick riding to barrel racing, it’s nice to have a mildly easier sport to compete in, as backup. Normally I just sit out and watch Keith perform but with the ARC coming up, both Viridi and I need the exercise and practice.   
I climbed out of the car and headed out to where we were supposed to be registering. I normally like to help unload the horses but with how small I am and with how high tensions are on days like today, it’s best that I just stay out of the way. Spooked horses plus tiny people usually equals some kind of injury, which sucks because with how good I am with temperamental horses. Even though I’m good with animals, I still got lucky to have Viridi as my partner. She’s pretty calm for mare, which makes her easy to work with.  
Hunk is in charge of unloading for today, he’s big and a steady source of comfort for skittish horses. While schoolies are supposed to be calm and steady in order to keep the kids who ride them safe, they have a habit of picking up on the nervous energy of green riders. Lucky for them, Hunk is a calm and kind influence on excitable horses.  
Speaking of excitable horses, Viridi still needs to be warmed up and all her tack needs to be re-done. We always loosen up their cinches (belly straps) on the way to the rodeo ground in order to get them more comfortable.  
So I walked back across the dusty, energy charged rodeo ground to our trailer and got back in the perfect time to grab Viridi from Hunk, she was super keyed up from the ride over and was already jumping to go. It was nothing that a good lunging and warm up wouldn't fix though.   
I quickly tied her to the trailer and fixed all her tack before putting on her bridle and heading over to the arena. Keith was warming up on Red, who's red ribbon was already tied on and ready to go. He must be nervous, we always try to warm up together before a show; it's how we make sure to not wear either of the horses out before doing our big run.  
With a tight squeeze of my calves Viridi started trotting over to Red. We got several odd looks from other riders in the ring with us, But that could have been due to multiple things; a tiny rider that seemed disproportionate from her horse riding up to an angsty emo kid and his horse always seems to catch people by surprise for some reason. How strange.  
****  
I may not seem very detail oriented, or like I notice things, but even I will notice when a gremlin like Pidge is coming up next to me.   
She may not look like much, but Pidge is an expert rider. Her small and lightweight body make riding her mare, Viridi, a dream. She uses minimal tack while riding and because Viridi has to handle little to no extra weight, they fly through any course you put them on.   
Pidge and Viridi also have one of the strongest bonds between horse and rider that I've ever seen. They've been a team since Viridi was born when Pidge was eight. They learned everything about riding as a team, and because of that their bond is easy to see and watch.   
Red and I have a slightly different story, he was a rescue horse. We saved him from the Galra stables when I was fifteen and they didn't want him. From an objective standard I could see why. He was 100 pounds underweight due to a poor diet, lacking any sort of muscle mass because of his inability to go fast enough for the Galra'a standard, and wouldn't let anyone near him. Shiro had wanted to file a lawsuit for animal cruelty but we didn't have enough proof to get Zarkon (the owner) convicted.   
It took an entire year before Red would let me ride him. And another six months after that to take him anywhere. But Shiro never let me give up on him. He always was there with encouragement or bandages or just someone to talk to until I was calm and experienced enough to start working with Red.  
He still has issues sometimes where he'll freak out over something that they hurt him with at the Galra's or where he won't let anybody but me within five feet of him, but he gets better every day, and I'm insanely proud.   
"Earth to Captain Kogane? This is Holt seeking contact." Pidge leaned over and poked me. Neither Viridi nor Red responded. Both were used to her antics by now. I don’t recommend anyone else doing this, Pidge was part of the training process and helped Red to get used to being handled.  
"Pidge are you sure that leaning over an abused horse is a good idea?" Her showing up reminded me to check Red's pace and to slow down a bit.  
Pidge winced a little and moved away, “Right, I always forget, she’s improved so much.”  
“Pidge, you’ve literally had the snot beat out of you by this horse. How do you forget this?”   
She smiled and started posting, “It’s only happened once. You meanwhile-”  
“WOW love you too Pidge! Would you look at that? Red is completely warmed up and ready to go! Better go tie her up before she gets tired out!”  
Normally I wouldn’t recommend spinning around mid-stride in a warm up arena at a rodeo. But since everybody’s still at sign ups. I did it anyways.   
Pidge and Viridi gave matching snorts. How rude of them. Snorting at my angelic little appaloosa gelding.   
I got to the gate and slowed Red to a stop before heading out of the Arena gate and back to the trailer. Both of Red’s ears were swiveling around at record rates and his head was arced so high in the air that he could have been a giraffe.   
The dozens of new smells and sounds must have been throwing him off, the poor baby. Today was looking like it was going to be a pretty chill day full of nice riders and even nicer weather, I hope that Red can get himself into a calmer state before we ride later. I’d really like to place today.  
As Red and I finally walked up to the trailer, Coran was leaning against a mounted Shiro’s leg as he nursed some coffee and talked to a pair of severely out of place people.   
One of them was wearing a pair of basic riding jeans and a baseball cap that was holding unruly curly white hair in place.   
The other was, sparkly, to put it nicely. His skin had the color of coffee with too much milk in it, and his hair was hidden underneath a hideous sparkly blue cowboy hat that had a pair of matching boots.   
I dismounted from Red who looked about ready to bolt and walked up to Shiro’s side, holding the reins in one hand and stealing his coffee with the other, “What’s up guys? I figured that you would both already be warming up.”  
“Hey Keith, I was actually on my way to warmups, but Coran wanted to introduce me to his Niece and her riding partner before I got too into rodeo mindset.” Shiro gestured to the people in front of us and the one with white hair waved at me.   
“Hello there! My name is Allura, I’m going to be riding at Voltron from now on as the resident dressage rider! My friend Lance here is going to be show jumping! I hope that you don’t mind us showing up today to watch. I know that the rodeo community is a bit tight knit.” She gave me a giant smile and looked to Red, “Oh! You ride an Appaloosa? My first horse was an Appy! What a wonderful coincidence!”  
“Yeah, he’s a blanket Appaloosa. I’m glad that you’re here. There’s no better place to get to know people in this profession than at competition.”  
The man at her side scoffed, “Profession. This is just a few country hicks going around beer caskets. You want real competition, try show jumping!”  
“And who are you?”   
The man jabbed his thumb into his chest, “Who am I? The name’s Lance!”   
Red tossed his head at the loud noise and honestly? Mood Red. “Am I supposed to know who that is?”  
“We went to high school together! You know! Lance and Keith, neck and neck! Rivals till the end!” He moved closer and Red finally voiced his displeasure by stepping on Lance’s foot.  
Good boy Red. You stomp on that loud english rider.  
“Dude! Get control of your horse! He could have broken my toe!” He limped back and out of my space.   
Muffling my laughter in Red’s furry neck, I swung back into the saddle and spared a glance at Shiro, who was holding in laughter. What a jerk.   
“Look man, I barely remember any of high school. Sorry to burst your bubble and everything, but I’ve got to go and stand somewhere else. Have fun today.” I spun Red around and trotted at top speed to the ‘hide from non mounted people trail’ it’s actually the trail that people use to cool down after riding, but it works for running away too.   
Shiro, who has still yet to warm up properly, Could be heard on his beast of a horse behind me.   
“Shiro, you had better be on your way to the arena. Or you’re not going to get a chance to warm up and you’re going to feel really dumb later.” I reined Red to a slow walk and let Shiro catch up to us as we turned left on the trail and angled toward the back of the arena.  
“Keith. That wasn’t very nice of you.” Shiro and Kosmo somehow managed to give me matching dad looks.   
“Shiro! Did you see him? He was a total ass!”   
“You weren’t exactly the picture of hospitality either Keith.” He pointed out.  
“Shiro! That’s so not fair! He could have spooked red with how loud he was being!” Then I would have the equivalent of an angry two year old on our hands! Then where would we be?”  
“Keith.”   
“No! You know what! Fuck him! With his stupid hair! And his shiny hat! And his sparkly boots-”  
“Keith!” Shiro cut in, “But we both know that Red spooks at almost anything. We’ve been working to get him past that, remember? Besides lance is a really nice kid once you get past his…”  
“Obnoxious face.”   
Shiro snorted, “I was going to say, volume.”   
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Now will you please go warm up? I don’t want kicking your ass to be too easy today.”  
Shiro shook his head and just turned around back toward the front of the arena and official gate area.   
Stupid Shiro. The guy thinks that he’s a dad.   
“Okay Red, you feelin’ a bit better now? I wasn’t kidding when I said that I wanted to kick Shiro’s ass today. And this is going to be the day that we do it. I don’t care what Lance thinks. Rodeo is more than just riding around some barrels. I’m willing to bet that riding english is way easier.”  
Red didn’t answer, which is probably for the best seeing that a talking horse would probably be way to unrealistic for whatever messed up world the author is building. Probably.   
With that lack of an answer we turned after Shiro and started back to the rodeo grounds.   
When we got back into the staging area Pidge was sitting on Viridi and had her tied up just out of the way in our usual spot a few feet from the gate. The angel had my halter for Red already tied to the rail next to Viridi.  
“Thanks Pidge.”   
The smaller girl looked up and gave me a tight smile. She was obviously nervous. Which was weird for her. She’s usually full of excitement during events like these. Because Pidge never placed during barrels, she was usually really chipper and happy beforehand.   
“What’s wrong?” I swung down from Red and switched out his bridle for his halter.   
“Sendak decided to come out today. He canceled whatever plans he had so he could come out and support me. Isn’t that sweet of him?”   
“Pidge. You should really break up with him. He doesn’t make you happy. If you want we can talk to Shiro and he can do it for you.” Poor Pidge. Sendak is a total asshole and walks all over Pidge and it makes me so angry. She’s such a good person and he’s a total ass. If Shiro knew what was going on he would totally put an end to it! Hell, even Hunk would do something!  
“Do you really think that he would? I don’t think that I’d feel safe doing it myself, but if Shiro would do it, it would probably be fine!” Pidge grinned at me.  
“Of course he would. He’d do anything for you. You’re like the little sibling he never had.”  
“Aren’t you two siblings?” She raised her eyebrows.  
“He’s been disowned for taking the side of an asshole. Besides, I’m not related to that dad. I’m the cool loner.”  
“Cool?”   
“I can be cool! I’m the misunderstood one! The black sheep?”  
“Then why is your horse named Red?”  
“Go break up with your boyfriend.”   
Pidge laughed and vaulted off of Viridi, “Fine! I’ll be back in a minute! Don’t let Viridi spook!” She took off down the aisle toward the exit and vanished between the various horses. 

******

Pidge dodged between all the horses at a record speed.   
Avoiding Sendak should have been the easy part right? Just stay away from the stands and I’ll be fine. Right?   
Apparently wrong. Gotta love that.  
“Katie! Babe! There you are! Why weren’t you responding to my texts?”  
Not now Sendak. Literally any other time would have been fine. “Hey Sendak… Sorry about that, I keep my phone off on rodeo days so that I can concentrate on riding.”  
“Seriously? You know that I love to keep track of you babe. Can you not do that anymore?” He crowded closer to me and I started backing away from him.   
“Sounds good, but I’ve really got to get back to the rodeo. I’m sure that Keith is waiting for me to get back!” I tried to duck under his arms but he just pushed me back.   
“What’s the rush babe? I’m sure that what's his face can wait a bit. I haven’t seen you all week.” Sendak leaned in closer and boxed me against the wall.  
“Seriously, I’ve really got to get back to the staging area. It’s gonna be starting soon.” My eyes started filling up with tears and my heart began to race.   
“I’m saying that you need to stay here and spend some time with your dear boyfriend.”   
My knees started to go weak, “Okay. I guess.”  
“Oh good, I was starting to think that you were wanting to argue with me. And that would be just awful seeing that I came out to support you instead of going out with Zarkon and Haxus.” He smirked and ran a hand through his hair.  
“Oh that would have been awful.” Hey Keith if you want to come and save me that would be great.  
“I’m glad that we agree. Now, where were we?”   
A voice cut in, “I believe that you were about to leave her alone and go far away from these rodeo grounds.”   
The owner of the voice was a man in brightly colored boots standing in Sendak’s path.   
He quickly strode up to us and put himself right in Sendak’s way, much to Sendak’s displeasure. “Excuse you? Who are you exactly?”  
The man puffed up a little bigger, “I don’t think that’s relevant. Now. If you’ll kindly leave this young lady alone, we won’t have any issues.”  
“That ‘young lady’ happens to be my girlfriend you asshole! So why don’t you mind your own business.” Sendak walked closer to the man and got in his face.   
“Well you could’ve fooled me. If I were her boyfriend, I would treasure every moment that I’m near her,” The man turned to me, “Hello there m’lady, what’s your name?”  
Sendak positively bristled, “Her name is Katie. And she’s mine. So fuck off.”  
“I didn’t ask you.” He glared at Sendak, “M’lady, your name?”  
“Ka-Pidge. My name is Pidge.”  
“So nice to meet you Pidge, now, why don’t I escort you back to your horse? We wouldn’t want Mr. Asshat here getting any smart ideas”  
“Yeah, nobody wants their ex to be a nuisance. Later Sendak, don’t bother to text me.” The man walked up to him and poked Sendak in the chest, causing him to stumble back a few steps.  
I followed close behind the man and tried to keep my distance from him as we walked away and back toward Keith.  
“You okay shorty? You seem a bit shaken up.”   
I nodded, “Yeah I’m okay, thanks to you! I can’t believe that you said that to him! That took major guts dude!”  
“Oh that? It’s just like standing up to my brothers at home, my name’s Lance by the way, I’m new around here.” He gave me a blinding smile and gave an awkward finger gun.  
“Nice to meet you! My name’s Pidge! I’m a pretty big trick rider around here, so you’ll be seeing me around pretty often!”  
As we talked and walked back toward Keith and Viridi I found out some pretty cool things about Lance.   
It turns out that he’s actually trained in show jumping but is interested in some of the western practices, which is pretty cool considering that a lot of the english riders I’ve met were pretty stuck up. He also just moved here from Washington and is looking for a less expensive place to board his and his riding partner’s mare.   
“I actually had a place where I wanted to board, but then I met one of the jerks who ride there and am seriously considering going somewhere else. I just don’t want to ride in an environment that’s so negative all the time.”   
Lance shook his head and I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could get a word out the loudspeaker above crackled to life.  
“Okay riders! We’re gonna go ahead and get started, so if you aren’t staged yet I would strongly recommend doing so!” With a loud squeak it shut off.  
Oops, Keith is probably pretty annoyed with me for taking so long. I turned to Lance with an apologetic expression and he just waved me away, “Go and get ready cowgirl, I’ll be cheering for you!”  
“Thanks Lance, my friend is probably so mad at me for taking so long!” I laughed, “Good luck with that stable!” I then turned and ran back to Keith and Viridi.   
Lance is such a cool guy. So many english riders that I’ve met can be so snooty and rude, it’s really nice to see one that’s just a nice guy in general. Besides, It’s always nice to have a fan to rub in Keith’s face.  
Speaking of Keith. “Pidge! What the heck took you so long? Shiro is literally here and about to go up! You missed your chance to talk to him!”   
Keith had already changed out his halter for a bridle and had a cowboy hat pulled over his hair.   
“Yeah, I don’t need to talk to him anymore.” I wrestled with Viridi for a minute and pulled her bridle over her ears. Keith handed me my hat and I quickly swung up onto my beautiful mare.   
“Wait Pidge, what do you mean you don’t need him?-”  
“Hey Keith look Shiro got a 19.67 good luck beating that okay bye!”   
*******

Three strides forward and through the gate. Two steps and a stop. Take a deep breath.   
Circle at a trot. Hear Shiro in my ear telling me not to go yet.   
Not yet. Not yet. Almost. Hold him.   
Now.   
Push forward with my whole body. Kiss Red forward, push him. Push him harder!   
Now sit! Look around the first barrel. Feel my foot brush the top. Internal panic. It’s still up, keep going.  
Push him forward. Keep on course.   
Next barrel. Sit deep on him. Don’t fall! Look, inside leg. Don’t knock it.  
The barrel stays up.  
Final barrel! Push him forward! Faster! Faster!  
Stop.  
Sit. Look. Use your leg! C’mon Keith almost there!   
You’re good! Full speed. Get over him! Kick up that speed one last time!  
Stop.   
We did it!   
“Keith on Red, 17.88. Good ride boys.”   
Hell yeah.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you Liked this!   
> If you're curious, Pidge rides a Lusitano mare, Keith rides a blanket Appaloosa (I ride a leopard appy) and Shiro rides a Clydesdale.   
> I'm looking for a beta! If you ride, that would be super helpful! But it isn't required!  
> Please leave a kudos or comment! They help to keep me inspired!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone mid jump over something taller than both him and his horse.   
> Someone with a beautiful grey speckled horse.  
> Someone wearing britches and knee high boots.  
> Someone who looks great in a bright blue cowboy hat.  
> I mean, someone who’s dumb enough to wear a bright blue cowboy hat.  
> And someone who just so happened to move into the stable yesterday.

“It’s raining! In summer! Why is it raining in summer?” Pidge disappeared from view as she dug through yet another box full of tech and rodeo ribbons.  
“Didn’t you take all a.p. Classes in highschool?”   
She reappeared for a split second before vanishing again, “Well yeah, but my point still st-HA I found it! Take that mom!”  
Pidge finally came back into the screen, holding a usb drive no bigger than my thumb, “Pidge, that thing is tiny, and why was it in your box full of disabled gaming consoles?”  
“Semantics youngling. Now, weren’t you going to go out and ride? I thought that you and Red liked the rain?”  
I glared at her, “I’m older than you?”  
“It still counts! I’m the smarter one!”   
I rolled my eyes, a grin cracking through my stony facade, “Sure Pidge. Anyways, I’m gonna go. Red won’t work himself, no matter how much I ask him too. Later.”  
Pidge waved her arm in my general direction already distracted by something on her laptop, “Later loser.”   
I hit the end call button and stood up. My room isn’t very big but that’s never been much of an issue for me. I’m a pretty minimalistic kind of guy, especially when compared to people like Pidge, who borders on horder status. The only things I really keep in my room are my favorite hoodie and some pictures of Red. Everything else important can be kept on my person pretty much all the time.   
I grabbed my hoodie off of the peg on my door and pulled it on while I walked down the hall filled with photos of Coran and his family and into the kitchen where Shiro and Coran were sitting and talking, “Hey guys, I’m gonna go and ride red for a bit.”  
Shiro turned to me, his hair was a mess and he was cradling a cup of coffee like it was his last hope, “Sounds good. Just don’t ride bareback today, all the horses are pretty on edge because of the rain and I don’t want to risk you or Red getting hurt.”  
Coran nodded his agreement around a mouthful of bagel, “Shiro’s right Keith. We don’t want to risk either of you to risk getting hurt before the ARC’s.”  
“I’ll be careful. I just want to take a chance to use the arena alone before summer hits full swing. Before long we’ll be so busy that we won’t get any chances to just work in the empty arena.”  
Shiro finished his coffee, getting up and rinsing it out, “That’s fair bud. I may and come watch you ride in a bit, but I need to Kosmo first.”  
Shiro is really picky about Kosmo, they’ve been a team since he was literally born. Shiro trained him himself and has been so careful to take really good care of him. He won’t let anyone else feed him or ride him which has only made their bond stronger.  
“Okay I’ll see you in a bit.” I pulled on a pair of worn out boots that needed replacing months ago and slipped into the pouring rain.   
The stable was quiet for once. You could hear the rain hitting the roof of the stable and the noises of the horses in the barn vying for attention from one of the volunteers feeding them. There was the occasional thud of a door opening and soft sounds from horses greeting whoever entered.   
There wasn’t any yelling, or any Shiro coaching the nervous kids. There wasn’t any spooked whinny’s or any excited shouts. The rain made everything calm.   
As I walked into the main barn Red gave a soft nicker as a hello.   
“Hi bud. Did you miss me? Sorry I didn’t ride you yesterday. One of the kids needed help with getting their horse to trust them.”  
I kissed Red’s nose, “Not that we’ve ever experienced anything like that.”  
Red nuzzled into my arms and slyly reached into my pocket, stealing the cookie I had hidden in there for him.   
“You little brat! That was for Viridi I’ll have you know!”  
Red happily chewed on the cookie.  
“I can’t believe you.”   
Red pressed his mouth onto my hoodie and spread crumbs all over it.  
“Fine, I’ll go get your tack box. You naughty horse.”   
I climbed out from the stall and went into the room on the side of the barn where we kept the brush boxes.   
The room was dusty and molding in some places, with tack sprawled all over the place. There was leg wraps paired with brand new ones, and duct tape of violent colors taped over half of it.   
Each rider who keeps things in the barn is required to choose a tape color, and is required to put it on anything belonging to them. My color is red, Pidge’s neon green, Coran is Orange, Hunk is yellow, and Shiro is purple. We have seniority so we get the solid colors. It marks us as people who that younger kids can go to for help. Super helpful for them, and a pain for my introverted self.  
Coran and Shiro love to help kids, Coran owns the farm and teaches the camps each summer and Shiro gives general lessons and helps Coran with the camps. Hunk is the general manager who makes sure that each horse gets fed and that their stalls get taken care of, he also will do some groundwork lessons with the ponies that board here and their kids.   
Pidge is a lot like me and will generally avoid anyone under the age of 17, but she’ll occasionally give into Shiro’s pleading and do a trick riding demonstration for the older kids.  
To be honest I don’t do much other than help Shiro and Coran during camps, that and I’m the best barrel rider around here.   
I dug through the layers of tack and grabbed my red brush box from underneath a pile of horseshoes.  
I’m gonna need to have a talk with Shiro about where the kids are allowed to put old shoes, because in my brush box is not the right answer.  
I stepped back into Red’s stall and gave him a quick brush. Because he’s been inside for the past two days he isn’t too dirty and I probably could have skipped cleaning him but it’s always good etiquette to give your horse at least a quick brush before you ride.  
I finished brushing him off and quietly pulled on his halter and leadline.   
As we walked toward the arena, we made a stop at the main tack building to grab my saddle and bridle, tacking up in record time and making a sprint to the covered part of the arena.   
We would have gone all the way in but there was already someone in there.  
Someone mid jump over something taller than both him and his horse.   
Someone with a beautiful grey speckled horse.  
Someone wearing britches and knee high boots.  
Someone who looks great in a bright blue cowboy hat.  
I mean, someone who’s dumb enough to wear a bright blue cowboy hat.  
And someone who just so happened to move into the stable yesterday.  
He cleared the jump and turned around to go over another one before he noticed me standing in the gate getting more and more wet every second.   
He then opened up the perfect chance for his horse to duck away, which the horse took.  
Lance went wide eyed and frantically grabbed the reins, “Dude! How long have you been standing there?”   
Red nosed me and we walked the rest of the way into the arena and under the covered half, “Not long, I just wanted to come and ride Red before we get too busy with the kiddie camps to practice consistently.”  
“Well too bad! Because I’m using the arena right now!” Lance glared at me.  
“It’s a big arena? We can just split the covered part in half. Then we don’t have to talk to each other or interact.” I turned back to Red and tightened my cinch, preparing to mount.   
“Wait, wait, wait, wait! No! Nuh uh! Not going to happen! Azula and I need the entire arena to practice!” He gestured to the jumps haphazardly set up around the arena.  
“Then just take some of them down? I only need to use one barrel. You won’t even know I’m here.” I stuck a foot into the saddle and pulled myself up. Red hardly reacted.  
“Not a chance mullet! If you want to use this arena you can use the not covered part!” Lance pointed to the muddy ground outside with a huff.  
“Listen man, I just want to practice. You’re new here so I’ll cut you some slack. But I’ve been here since I was six and I have seniority. Rule is that seniority rules and I want to use the arena.”  
“I was here first! Besides, how difficult can it be to ride around some barrels? You shouldn’t have to practice that!” He squacked.  
I raised an eyebrow, “You wouldn’t last more than three seconds just sitting on Red.”  
“I bet that you wouldn’t even be able to make a baby jump on Azula here!”  
“Oh really?”  
“Yeah!” Lance quickly dismounted Azula and violently grabbed her reins, walking over to me, “If you can ride Azula over just one of these jumps, you can have the arena! But if I can take Red around a barrel course and stay on, I get the arena!”   
Seriously? All I wanted to do was ride! It’s not even eight a.m. yet, this snooty english rider shouldn’t even be here yet! “You know what? Sure! Go ahead!”  
“Fine!”  
“Fine!”  
Lance strode over to me and thrusted Azula’s reins into my open hand. Azula just looked like she was bored and wanted to go back to her warm stall. Unlike her Rider who seemed as if he’d had too much coffee.  
I begrudgingly climbed down from Red and knelt down to give Lance a leg up, “Red hates mounting blocks, so I’ll give you a leg up.”  
Lance sniffed, “Please! If you can get up on your own so can I!”  
Lance, I’ve been training to do that since I got Red, of course I can get up on my own. I’ve been forced to learn to, you idiot. “Your lose I guess.”   
I got up from the ground, not bothering to dust myself off. Over the soft ground I walked Azula away from Red and Lance to get a feel for her temperament.  
From what I’ve seen of Lance’s riding, she is incredibly sensitive on the mouth but takes a bit of urging to get up to pace. With all the crazy things that Lance seems to do on her I would guess that she’s pretty spook proof so I’m not too worried about that.   
I took a step back to get a good look at her weird english tack. God, how do people even get there?  
Lance had managed to pull himself into Red’s saddle and glared down smugly at me, “What’s the issue Mullet? Not able to get up?”  
“Whatever.” I took one last breath and strode up to Azula. She didn’t seem phased by the new rider trying to mount her.  
I grabbed onto Azula’s mane and stood by her neck. With a deep breath I swung up and pulled my foot into the saddle. It was almost like getting up bareback but with a bit more grip. Thankfully once I got my first leg over I naturally slipped into the seat of the saddle.  
“I’m impressed Mullet. I thought for sure that you would have to use the block.”  
“I’m not a wimp. I can get into a saddle without a block.” I scoffed at him.  
“Just take the compliment edgelord.”  
“Whatever. Now what do I need to do? Point her at the jump?”  
Lance smirked, a smug little tilt of his lip and a slight narrowing in his eyes, “If that’s what you think that you should do. Azula knows what to do.”  
Whatever. It can’t be that hard if Lance does it.  
I gently picked up Azula’s reins and nudged her forward. Lance keeps his stirrups obscenely short, almost to the point where I feel like I’m supposed to be in a chair.   
Taking a lap to warm up is probably going to be a good idea before I try to take her over any jumps. I’m going to prove to Lance that I’m just as good as any english rider. Just you wait. 

***

You can tell a lot about a person by the way that they ride and treat their horses. I’ve met so many people in the horse world that don’t treat their horses properly and ride like absolute maniacs that it makes me sad, but Keith isn’t one of those people.  
I’ve only seen Keith ride twice now and both times he’s ridden like he was born in the saddle. His movements are so gentle and soft that it’s hard to believe that he’s so annoying in real life. Azula is so relaxed when he rides her that she bends her head in ways that she never does when Allura or anyone at our old stables did.  
Keith also has such a nice seat. You can see every muscle moving when he bends with her and you can tell that he works out. Not that it matters, but I can appreciate that he exercises outside or riding. Right?  
Anyways, as Keith finishes his warm up lap, he brought Azula up to the smallest jump on the course, a small jump that was barely two feet off the ground. Azula had done it a hundred times with no issues.  
Keith on the other hand, has probably never jumped in his life.  
“Hey man, you want some advice? Jumping isn’t as easy as I make it seem.”  
Keith slowed Azula and brought her to a gentle stop a few feet away scowling at me, “I’m pretty sure that I can do it.”  
“Seriously, there’s things that you need to do if you want to go over the jump as a team and not just fall over it.”  
Keith grimaced, “I’ve got it lance!”  
“Fine, fine, but don’t come crying to me when you fall.”   
Keith scowled at me as he picked up Azula’s reins with a feather light touch and pointed her back toward the jump.   
It’s hard to describe what it’s like to watch a horse jump. I could describe it as poetry in motion. Like when the poet just let the words flow without forcing any new lines of verses, where he just let the words fall as they would and the flow would come out so beautifully that there was no editing necessary.  
I could also call it like watching a waterfall spill over the edge of a chasm. Each hoof a river meeting up to create a rushing torrent of power over earth itself. All the power of the sky and oceans meeting at one point to carry you safely over the edge.   
This is not like that. This is a trainwreck of a rider who doesn’t trust his horse to keep him safe. His arms are too tense and his form is all off. He isn’t in jumping position and if he tries to take Azula over that jump she could get seriously hurt.  
Watching Azula jump is poetry. But watching Keith jump, is a trainwreck.  
“Keith! Don’t let her take that jump! She’s gonna get hurt!”  
It all happened in slow motion. Keith looked down at the jump and his arms froze up and pulled back into his chest, signaling Azula that she should stop and turn away.   
My beloved Azula, with her skipping strides, and her bouncy trot with a willing disposition and her willingness to try anything, stopped a few inches before she would have ran right into the fence.  
Keith let out a loud angry shout as he flew right over Azula’s neck and over the rail.  
That’s when Red, so lively and fast, reared. His hooves previously planted so deep into the ground that they could be mistaken for trees took flight like the startled birds that they were. With my usually so well planted seat missing, I was suspended mid-air with nothing to hold me in place for mere seconds before slamming back into the saddle as Red’s panicked feet hit the ground and took off toward the jump where Keith lay on the ground.  
I clung to the saddle for dear life, praying that Red wouldn’t try to jump it. This heavy western tack would make it so difficult to keep any element of control and we would no doubt spin wildly out of control.   
He didn’t jump it. Instead he spun around last second and took off in a different direction.   
Unfortunately, he left me lying flat on my back a few feet from Keith.   
Ugh. Today is so not my day.

***

Ugh. Today isn’t going to be my day is it?

First, it rains, meaning that Shiro’s going to need help so that his arm doesn’t get destroyed.  
Second, I can’t practice like normal because Lance is trying to ride.  
Third, I fall off of Lance’s horse.   
Just great.   
Lance who was still laying next to me let out a huge laugh, “Hey Mullet, I lasted more than three second. I won.”  
“Did you hit your head on the way down, you still fell off.” Lance and I both sat up, absolutely covered in dust.  
“Nah man, but I guess we can call it a- Oh my quiznak they’re friends!” Lance pointed at Red and Azula who were standing next to each other, butt’s toutching and noses tipped toward the other.   
With a soft nicker Red bumped Azula and starting cantering around the arena in wide loping circles. His tack was bouncing all over and hitting his sides but he looked like he was having the time of his life.   
Azula, after a moment followed him, kicking up dirt and tossing her mane as she ran along with him.   
After a few minutes of this Lance and I went and caught our respective horses, the rain had slowed enough for us to be able to untack and put them away in the dry pens. Azula was apparently stalled right next to Red.   
How nice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all it's about to get a whole lot gayer up in here.


	4. Authors Note

Hey everyone!   
I just wanted to let you all know that I'm taking a short break, so there probably won't be a chapter this month. I'm having really bad writers block and I don't want to put out anything that I'm not proud of!   
So for now,   
wish me luck!!!  
-TheRavenclawpaladin


	5. It's starting to a lot like Romance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen. School creates really bad writer's block. Blame the school system for my disappearance.

The next day it was still raining. Hard.   
All of the normally firm and painful to hit ground was too soft and muddy to ride on and all the horses had decided that today was a day for naps.  
So we did what all barns did when they couldn’t ride. We went to the mall!  
Well, not the entire barn, Shiro and Coran had declined on going, stating that they had some paperwork to do. Hunk’s girlfriend was in town and they wanted to go to a movie, so he didn’t go either.   
The final group ended up being, Pidge and her brother who had driven out from the next town over for a big sale at the western store, the girl from the other day named Allura, her girlfriend Romelle, Lance, and me.   
Matt and Pidge were going to be getting me in a half an hour to head out, so I should really take a shower and find a pair of jeans that can be worn in proper society.   
But, the new season of buzzfeed unsolved starts today. And my bed is so warm.  
I’m sure that Pidge won’t mind if I just cancel this one time, right?  
Half of my body was flopped off the mattress and my blankets were tangled around my legs as I flailed around, trying to grab my phone charger. It was only mere inches away from my fingertips and I lean even more precariously off of the bed.  
The thump of me hitting the ground could probably be heard from the kitchen. And the cussing from the barn.   
“Why me? I haven’t even been up for twenty minutes!” My feet were still tangled up in the crisp white sheets that line my bed and my torso was lying flat on the ground.   
There was the sound of a throat clearing at my door and Shiro’s imposing figure was leaning against the doorway.  
“So, you good man?”   
“Oh shut up Shiro.”  
I few minutes later, the offending sheets were back on my bed and I had somehow managed to find a pair of jeans that didn’t stink like horses and a shirt that didn’t offend my eyes.   
A shower and a pair of earrings had me ready to go. The outfit I had put together turned out to be a lot colder than I was really going for, but we were going to be inside all day anyways so it didn’t really matter.   
I was sitting in the kitchen on my phone when Matt pulled up at top speed into the driveway. The bright yellow paint of his van was starting to peel and there was a new dent in it right where the junction of the door opened to reveal a practically green Pidge stepping out.   
Matt of course, had gotten even more ridiculous. If Pidge was a western hipster, that’s what she would look like. Hair pulled into a man-bun and flannels with cowboy boots.   
The only noticeable difference between the two was Matt’s six inch height difference, still leaving him a good three inches shorter than me.  
He and Shiro had been friends since they were kids and when Matt moved to Pecos to train the next generations of rodeo horses, Shiro had been heartbroken.   
Matt still visits all the time to check on Pidge and Viridi’s progress as a team and to give general advice with the other horses here. So we still see him all the time but Shiro is dramatic and wants to see him every day.  
There was the sound of our front door slamming and Pidge ran past me in a blur of green and black, while Matt strolled in through the front door with a grin on his face and his car keys swinging from a black lanyard.  
“Keith! My favorite cowkane! How are you doing? Riding hard I assume? And not just the horses!” Matt jumped up on one of the counters and winked at me.  
“Hi Matt. Shiro’s outside with Kosmo if you want to say hi before we head out. Main bard third stall on the left.”   
Matt’s face widened into a sunshiny grin, “Hell yes little dude! I’ll be back in like twenty minutes! Meet me in the car!”  
As the front door closed Pidge came out of the bathroom looking much better.  
She pulled out a chair next to me and slammed her head on the table, “I’m never getting back in that car.”  
“You say that yet you always get back in anyways.”  
Her head raised and she glared at me, “My brother has somehow gotten worse at driving than he used to be. And that should be impossible.”  
I gave a sympathetic groan, having Matt as my babysitter as a kid I knew what Pidge was talking about when it came to his bad driving.   
We sat there for a bit longer, content with the simple quietness of friendship that you only get after growing up together. Every once in awhile she would lean over and show me a meme or would send me a cool edit of Red and I that she made.   
One of my favorites was one from when she was still learning to edit. Pidge had only been fourteen and I had turned fifteen a few weeks before.   
The day had been a hot one and we were giving the horses the first bath of summer. Red had been at the barn for a few weeks and was in a great mood.   
The picture showed me leaning over Red’s back, covered in soapy water and grinning. Red was looking directly at the camera and you could see Shiro in the background holding a shiny Kosmo’s lead rope. Pidge had taken the photo and shifted the focus to Red and I. Over the top of the picture was the words “OUR NEXT CHAMPIONS” written in blocky lettering.   
That moment had gone from a normal day to one of my happiest memories of our barn family, all because of Pidge’s tendency to take pictures.  
She was showing me one of her newest edits, a still shot of her launching off of Viridi’s back, when Matt threw open the door and strolled in with mud covered boots.  
“Let’s get going kiddies! We’ve got people to pick up and tack to buy!”  
“I thought that everyone else was driving with Allura?” Pidge said.   
“They were but Allura’s car is broken down and Romelle’s is in the shop. So we’re giving them a ride.”  
“Is she going to be able to get it fixed? I would hate to see a good truck go to waste.”  
Matt nodded at his sister, “Yeah, but it doesn’t sound cheap. I do not envy her wallet.”  
“Couldn’t hunk help her out?” I piqued in, “He’s pretty good with most cars and would love to help her out.”  
“I’ll talk to her about it. Anyways, we should get going. We need to be there in ten minutes to pick up everyone.”  
Pidge and I exchanged matching looks of apprehension and stood up. 

***

Matts car was just as beat up on the inside as on the outside. The stuffing on the seats was falling out, his back row of seats were completely gone in order to make more space for tack, along with the middle seat in the middle row and his radio could barely be heard over the sound of his complaining engine.  
We tried to talk, but when Matt’s horrible driving mixes with the scary sound of the complaining engine, you eventually just start to give up. So most of the ride was spent in silence while Pidge curled into a ball and tried not to throw up again.   
We pulled up a gravel driveway to a small brown house with bikes laying abandoned on their sides in the yard and and what looked like a chicken coop attached to the side of an overflowing garage. Allura and who I assumed to be Romelle were holding hands while sitting on a beat up swing set while Lance was chasing around two younger kids with hair a good three shades darker than his own.  
He looked up at us as he easily picked up the kid closest to him and waved with a free hand.   
Turning around he shouted something in the direction of the houses and dropped the kid he was holding, then ran over to us with a grin of pure sunlight as Allura and Romelle followed behind at a more leisurely pace.   
Lance was wearing a light hoodie and a pair of acid washed jeans with a pair of old beat up converse. His backpack was a checkered pattern with old stains on it, leaving it with an old well-loved look.   
Allura was in a Jumpsuit and a light sweater, while her partner wore a pair of sweats and an oversized tee-shirt with beat up converse, and tattered laces.   
I suddenly felt overdressed.  
Pidge threw open the door to the van and waved at the trio almost falling out of the car, “Hi guys!! Since it’s a pretty big group, we don’t have enough seats for everyone. So I’m going to sit in the front and everyone else is going to have to fight it out about who’s sitting on whose lap.” She hurriedly unbuckled her seatbelt and climbed over the console and into the front seat Leaving me face to face with Lance.   
“Hey mullet. Did you miss me?” Lance grinned.   
“You wish, show boy.”  
Lance laughed and pulled away, still grinning even in the drizzly weather, “Romelle, Allura, I’m assuming that you two are going to be sharing a seat?”  
The girls looked away from each other and nodded at Lance.   
“Then that leaves me on your lap mullet, unless you wanna sit on me?” He wiggled his eyebrows at me.   
I closed my eyes for a minute, missing the feeling of my nice warm bed and wanting to be watching the new season of Buzzfeed unsolved.   
“I’m taking your lack of response as a, “Yes lance! I’m happy to have you sit on my lap, you’re so hot and perfect, marry me!” Lance then climbed into the car and secured himself firmly onto my lap with a happy wiggle.   
He isn’t wrong. I do think he’s hot. And any other time with any other context I would love to have him sit on me, but now, in a cramped car, with Pidge paying close attention to me. Not so much.   
“Jeez. Aren’t english riders supposed to be light? You weigh a ton!”  
Lance skewed himself sideways, “Excuse you! I’m extremely light! If blue can handle it so can you!”  
“Lance, Keith, play nice. Matt’s car can’t take much roughhousing.” Pidge said.  
I leaned around Lance and glared at her. “Aren’t you supposed to be dying?”  
She snorted in a way that was reminiscent of Viridi, “Matt’s having to drive like a normal person because of the extra weight, so I’m free to be as talkative as I want. Now buckle up, you’ve got a thirty minute drive ahead of you.”  
As the car pulled out of the drive Lance stopped moving around as he settled into my lap, playing some racing game on his phone.  
I put in my earbuds and tried to tune out Matt’s awful taste in music and Allura’s quiet murmuring to Romelle as they cuddled with each other. We had pulled back into the pouring rain clouds and slowly I felt my eyes lowering as the car slowly sent me into a deep sleep.  
In my dreams it was sunny. It had the hazy quality of the long summer days that my young self took for granted when I was still learning about the world. A day where school was the last thing anyone was thinking about and the horses were hot and ready to go and hit the trails.   
My limbs had the gangly feeling of a teen just hitting a growth spurt along with the nasty sweat of puberty. If I had to guess, I was just now fourteen. Maybe.  
The barn was abuzz with movement and a young Pidge could be seen around the corner, putting on Viridi’s tack.   
I took a few steps forward and was suddenly thrown forward as the world around me seemed to collapse momentarily.   
As the area around me stopped spinning I was standing next to a fully tacked up school horse and Pidge was looking down at me from Viridi’s back and she talked about some kind of new camera lens that she was saving up for, not even noticing my confusion.  
“So are you almost ready? Because Lance and Hunk already left and we’re going to have to run to catch up if we want to get to the barn at a reasonable time.”  
I nodded hurriedly at her and checked the school horse, who I identified as Ollie’s belly strap before untying him and climbing on his back.  
Without even checking to make sure that I was safe, Pidge turned away from us and took off at a full gallop down the road.   
Ollie was already straining to take off behind her, so I leaned forward and grabbed the reins. Letting him go running after the younger pony I got to enjoy a moment of pure love for riding.  
Since starting on Red I haven’t had a lot of chances to really just let a horse go and run, without having to worry about getting thrown off or lost because Red saw a tree taller than him.   
There’s a reason that people always tell you not to take on problem horses if you aren’t ready to give up a lot of the simple joys of riding. With an abused horse, you can’t just do stupid things and expect the horse to not let you fall. With a horse who has history, you have to be more careful.   
I wouldn’t give up all that I’ve learned while taking care of Red for anything. But sometimes I really do miss being able to just trust my horse to go and to not spook.  
My dream blurred yet again as Ollie’s hoofbeats sped up and I suddenly found myself in front of a rotting old barn with Pidge, on Viridi, standing next to me, completely out of breath.   
On our right was who I assumed was supposed to be a younger Lance. His hair is several shades darker than in real life, and he wasn’t even riding Azula, instead he was on an uncharacteristically tall warmblood with a rusty coat.   
He was gesturing wildly to Hunk, who looked queasy and was holding onto the reins of an older shire horse, who was standing bored.   
Lance then turned to me, there was a bandaid on his face and his hair was unruly under his helmet, “Well, how about you Keith? Since these two losers want to explore the bluffs, how bout’ we explore the haunted barn! Just the two of us! I even brought my camera!”  
I felt my head nod before I even processed what had happened. Young Lance was so unlike our current day Lance that it was crazy. My Lance, while loud, would never be loud towards me in a nice way. And he wouldn’t be caught dead with a bandaid on his face. Or acne for that matter. I wonder what happened to him to make him like the person he is today. This might just be in my dreams but this seems too realistic. Almost like a memory.   
I was pulled out of my thoughts when he swung off of his horse and landed with a loud thud on the ground. He led the horse, a mare by the attitude, and tied her loosely to an old tree branch; leaving plenty of space for her to move and look around. Her head was lowered and she was giving Lance affection as he waited for me to dismount. They were way to close for her to be just a borrowed lesson horse. But she’s no Azula so she must be a horse that he doesn’t talk about anymore.   
I dismounted from Ollie and tied him loosely next to Lance’s mare, leaving plenty of space between the two.   
We both shared a look as Lance took the lead.   
The taller boy led the way into the falling apart barn as Pidge and Hunk rode off in the other direction. He was rambling about some summer project that he needed to start that week and about how he was so excited to get to spend the summer away from stuffy Washington and at home.   
The barn was a spacious area with four stalls, looking like they missed having horses in them. One of the stalls in particular’s door was slightly ajar and just begging to be explored. To our left was a ladder leading toward the hay loft, with old hay still hanging down.   
Lance grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the hay loft, he had stopped talking and was stuck in a trace, waiting for something amazing to happen.   
“Well Keith, ladies first.” The left side of his mouth tilted up and his singular dimple was bright as day.  
“Sounds good, go ahead!” I responded to his quip with a smirk of my own gestured for him to start up the ladder.   
Lance’s laugh was loud disturbing the peace of the moment and sending a bird flying out of the barn.   
He started up the ladder with the strap of his camera swinging from his shoulder and his cowboy boots were covered in dust that floated down into my face as he hit them against the ladder rungs.  
As we both stood up in the top of the hay-loft Lance turned to me with a grin that would melt the heart of the cruelest person. His teeth were so white that they left me speechless.  
I want to make my Lance smile like that.   
“We should take a picture! That way if we ever forget each other we can still have a picture to remember the other by!”  
“Umm. I guess so?”  
That was the only confirmation that Lance needed. He pulled his camera out of its case and threw his arm around my shoulder, there was the snap of the shutter and the photo began to slowly print out.   
Lance pulled it out and put the camera back in the case.   
There was a loud trilling of a flip phone going off, causing Lance to drop the photo into a crack in the floorboards in his haste to pull it out of his pocket.   
He hurriedly answered the phone with a wince, “Hola mama.”  
“Yes I know. We’ll leave in a minute.”  
“Where am I? Well you know, around.”  
His wince grew in size.  
“Si, lo siento. See you in an hour. Okay te amo. Adios.”  
The phone shut with a snap and Lance turned to me; a frown was destroying the serene quality of my dream.   
“I have to go home, if I don’t they’ll terminate my scholarship.”  
He ran forward and collapsed into my arm sobbing about how unfair it was.   
I wanted more than anything to assure him that it was going to be okay and that it would work itself out and about how happy he was in the future; but I was stuck unable to do anything but hold him as my dream began to collapse around me and turn black.  
When the black cleared away, there was a pair of blue eyes staring down at me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you wanna draw me fanart. Use the tag, notmyrodeofanart   
> I would cry.


	6. Gay disaster I guess.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Idk, my notes said Gay disasters so take this.

Looking into Lance’s eyes, I realized just how blue they were.  
The deep, swirling worry clouded them, leaving a teary shine over the ocean of blue that rival even the most beloved beaches.   
Watching Lance’s eyes was like watching a movie that you’ve seen a thousand times. You know what you’re going to see, yet you always want to come back for more.   
“Time to wake up. We made it to the mall alive.” He pulled away from me, leaving the seat we shared full of big empty space.  
I rubbed my eyes and began to remember where I was. Right. We were supposed to go to the mall today for the big tack sale in the western store. And Pidge wants to see a movie before we all head back to our houses. I was sharing a seat with Lance when I must have fallen asleep. Oh, that dream.   
That strange, hazy, memory of a dream! Lance was absolutely not know what I was dreaming about!   
“Oh right. The mall.”  
The car was silent while Lance waited for my response; staring with an intent gaze at me while I slowly booted back up.   
That’s when I realized that the car was totally silent, “Wait, where’s everyone else? I thought that we were all going as a team?”  
Lance rolled his eyes and grabbed his swim team hoodie off of the rubber matts on the bottom of the van, “They already went inside. I didn’t want to wake you up, since you were sleeping so deeply, Pidge said that you were probably up pretty late last night. I decided to wait for you until you woke up, I didn’t get much sleep last night either.” The end of the sentence was muffled through the thick fabric of his hoodie.   
That shocked me, “I thought that someone like you would be strict about your beauty sleep? With your whole obsessive skincare and stuff.”   
His head burst out of the hoodie and he grinned at me, “You would think so, but you forget the fact that I have a giant family and like fifty siblings.”  
That caught my attention, I knew that Lance has a big family from seeing him chase around his little siblings but how big could it be?   
“Still, a big family is like, five people, not bad.”  
Lance scoffed, “You must be an only child?”  
I stiffened up and Lance climbed the rest of the way off of my lap, “I had Shiro and Coran!”  
That really got Lance going, his laugh shook the empty car and he fell over into the seat next to us, “Ah man! That’s rich. My family is three times that size!”  
“Oh really!! Prove it!!” I leaned into his space and he pulled out his phone and frantically swiped through his photo album.  
He stopped scrolling and Shoved his phone into my face. There was a photo that looked professionally done shining back at me.  
In the far back, there were two people who I assumed to be his parents. One of them was very short and the other very tall, the woman was grinning at the camera with a little kid hugging her waist as she leaned into the arms of the taller gentleman. Next to them was a lanky man with an equally lanky woman standing next to him, he had a little girl with pigtails holding onto his ear and grinning. His hair and skin were uncharastically dark looking when compared to the pale woman next to him who was smiling softly into the camera.  
In the row up was Lance, except his hair was shockingly white. His arms were thrown around a girl standing next to him who looked to be about his age and was giving him bunny ears. They were both posed on either side of an old lady who was giving the camera a stern look, as if she was about to give it a serious talking too. On Lance’s other side was a young man with a dopey looking smile.   
There was an asian guy standing on the side, along with a nervous looking girl with hair as short as Pidge’s and had her hand laced with a girl who could have been Lance’s double. In the far corner of the photo, was a girl with frizzy hair and wire framed glasses grinning into the camera and giving a thumbs up.   
Lance -well my lance- pulled the phone away from my face with a jerky motion and started to explain, “In the back is my moma and papa, I love them a lot but they don’t really support my riding. Next to them is one of my brothers, Luis, and his wife, Kass. She’s really nice!”  
“The kid on his and mama’s hips are Emilie and Rowan my niece and nephew, I was playing with them earlier. Marco is on my other side, he spends a lot of time in South Korea working with activists. The older lady in the front is my Abuela, she’s really scary, but we all love her a lot! In the corner Is Rachel’s boyfriend Vinnie, and next to him is Veronica and her girlfriend next to them is their daughter Elizabeth. The kid with the white hair is me and the girl next to me is my twin Rachel.”  
“So yeah, we’re a big family. Thirteen of us I think? Fourteen counting me! Family events are really chaotic.”  
I made a conscious effort to close my mouth, “Um. Yeah, that’s a big Family. Damn. I didn’t even realize that was possible.”   
Lance laughed and his smile seemed to reach his ears, “That isn’t even counting all of my family still in Cuba! Every summer we all fly down and have a big reunion, there’s over thirty of- I’m rambling.”  
His smile fell and the temperature in the car dropped a good ten degrees as he shrunk into his seat and stopped talking.  
What am I supposed to do now? Making people feel better has always been Shiro’s thing; I’m too awkward when it comes to this kind of thing.  
Lance saved me and started to talk again, the smile returning to his face, albeit to a smaller degree, “Anyways, we should head into the mall, I want to pick up some new face masks.”  
I nodded, grateful for the easy escape from more spilling of emotions, and opened the door to a torrential downpour of rain hitting the ground and my jeans.   
Lance was smart to grab a hoodie. Mine was probably sitting on my desk at home, where I had thrown it after my last trip into town. Waiting for me to put it back on at the end of summer.  
“What the hell?” I growled, “Is with all these summer storms! It’s texas! We’re supposed to be free from this crap!”  
Lance let out a loud laugh and climbed out of the car behind me, pulling on his hood and he shut the door behind him and stared at me.  
My eyes narrowed and my breath began to come faster, “Can I help you? Not all of us have hoodies to wear!”  
His eyes closed at he pulled the neck of the hoodie over his head and within seconds he was just in a tee-shirt, and holding the hoodie out at me.  
“There. Now you do. Now stop complaining mullet.”  
I tried in vain to push away the gray hoodie, complaining, “Lance, you can’t just give me your jacket! You’re gonna get soaked!  
He pushed the jacket back at me, “Well too bad, because I’m not moving until you take it”  
With a snarl I took the jacket and pulled it over my head, it smelled like teenage hormones and something spicy.  
It smelled like Lance.  
He smiled at me and his blue eyes became the only thing that I could focus on as they met mine with an unseen challenge.   
I broke the eye contact, my cheeks burning as all of my blood rushed to my face, “I don’t even need new tack. I only came because Pidge wouldn’t let me stay home.”   
Lance, instead of making fun of me like expected, mumbled a response that sounded like an unsure, “Yeah, me too.”   
We made eye contact again, then looked to the car.   
Without a word we climbed back in and Landed on the floor of the trunk somehow.   
We were both soaked to the bone and were laughing hard enough to be heard from outside as we tried to figure out what could possibly be so funny that we both kept breaking out in loud laughter.  
Whenever we started to calm down, we would make eye contact and start to laugh again.   
After getting the restless giggles under control we started talked, and talked…   
And talked. Before we knew it, everyone was back in the car and they went home, not having even gone into the mall, but maybe it wasn’t necessary that day.   
The start of something new is always the day that you forget the fastest.

***

Lance was straight.   
Lance was straight.  
Lance was, straight?  
He wasn’t so sure anymore.   
Girls were amazing. Of course they were! They had hair that had to be softer than Keith’s. And he’s sure that there’s girls that have violet eyes out there somewhere.  
He was just tired of being single, and Keith hair length was long enough that he could totally be mistaken for a girl!   
That’s what Lance was going to go with. There wasn’t any way that he could be gay. He likes girls, and he loved kissing girls!   
But why did he feel like he would also love kissing Keith.   
It was probably nothing. Keith was just a rival, that’s the reason that whenever Lance sees him he gets sweaty and his heart begins to race. And that’s why spending time with him made Lance happy, it’s just like having a sibling who constantly makes you laugh, you compete and have a great time all while making the other lose.   
Lance was straight.   
It was time to make a phone call to a very important person.   
Even with the clock reading midnight, Hunk still picked up with a groggy annoyed voice that was always dependable to be there for him.  
“Lance bud, I love you but it’s two a.m and I have work tomorrow.”  
“Hunk, I think that I might be gay.” Lance’s voice was quivering and seemed to echo back over the receiver.   
Hunk was quiet, for once having nothing to respond with.   
Then there was a loud chuffing sound over the receiver as he smothered a laugh, “You’re kidding right? You’ve dated more girls than ridden horses! You love them. My phone bill’s gone up over 300 dollars since I started paying it! I don’t think I know anyone that falls in love faster then you!”  
“But Hunk!!!” Lance’s voice was taking on a whiny tone, “I thought about kissing a dude!!!! That has to make me gay!”  
Hunk was still laughing as Lance eagerly awaited his reply. Feeling overheated, he kicked off the blankets and stared at the glowing stars on his ceiling.   
Finally, Hunk responded, “Maybe you’re just Bi?”  
“Excuse me?”  
“Bisexual? As in liking two genders? Boys and Girls? Or like, boys and non-binaries? Or girls and non-binaries?”  
“That’s an option?!” My voice rose in pitch, sounding a lot like Allura’s.  
“Yes?” Hunk sounded hesitant, as if he was afraid to answer me.   
With a groan I screamed profanities into my pillow, “So you’re saying, all those weird feelings that I had in high school weren’t me being socially awkward? But me actually being Bi?”  
“Yep,” Hunk mumbled into the phone, “Now can I leave you alone while you mull this over, I have to be up in like two hours to get your horses ready for the show tomorrow. Even if it’s just at the stable, Shiro and Coran want everything to be set up nicely for the visiting riders.”   
“CRAP! That’s tomorrow?” Lance shot up in bed.  
Hunk’s stony silence was all the answer that the cuban boy needed.   
“Ugh, that means that I have to get up early too. This sucks.”  
There was a click over the receiver as Hunk hung up without answering.   
“That’s fair.” The ending remark echoed through the small room as a smack on the wall next to his head reminded him that he did not, in fact, live alone.

***

The next morning was chaotic at best, and hellish at worst. On the bright side, Lance had woken up on time, on the dark side (Dark side?) he had forgotten to wash his blue riding top, so he was stuck in a red one that he had bought out of impulse a few years ago, meaning that his tack and clothing didn’t match.  
He had seen Keith earlier that morning, before all the visiting riders began showing up. He had been wearing Lance’s jacket and he couldn’t ignore the butterflies in his belly when the Korean boy had waved a hello.   
They hadn’t had time to talk as Lance got Azula ready and Keith rushed around, doing a million last minute chores that all the volunteers had elected not to do.  
Shiro had instructed Allura and Lance to just have fun, today would not be scored or counted regionally as it was just a small show to bring in new riders. As the only two english riders at the stable, they would both be competing today, Allura in dressage and Lance in jumping with a few western riders showing off in between the events.  
Lance was riding second so he wouldn’t get to see Allura ride, but she would get to see him showing off his skills.   
As Lance was standing with Azula in her stall, brushing out her tail with an old hairbrush that he had repurposed into a mane and tail brush when his broke, Keith slipped into the stall holding a finger to his mouth.  
With no noise he slipped into the shadows of the stall across from Lance and out of sight from the entry blending right into the shadows, the only part of him standing out was the little red earrings reflecting the tiny bit of light that made it into the corner.  
He disappeared in the nick of time as a tall man weilding a pair of wicked looking scissors appeared at the stall door.  
He scowled and turned to me, “Hello dear, my name is Adam, you must be one of the visiting riders today. I’m looking for a boy with a mullet and red earrings. I need to talk to him as soon as possible.”  
Focusing my gaze right behind Adam I looked to Keith and he mouthed You didn’t see me.   
I looked back to Adam and adopted a winning grin, “Sorry sir, but I haven’t seen a mullet anywhere near here! But I think I did see someone with red earrings over by the arena earlier?”   
Not exactly a lie, that was where I’d seen Keith earlier. Just you know, three hours earlier.   
The man squinted suspiciously at me, muttering about how “He was sure that he’s seen him run over here just a minute ago.” Then pulled his head out of the stall and walked away.   
Keith stayed in the shadows a moment longer, then let out a long sigh of relief, smiling at me and pushing his bangs out of his eyes, “Thanks Lance, I didn’t think that I’d be able to get away that time. Adam’s gotten craftier since I last saw him. Cornering me in the barn was a good try. Too bad he didn’t expect me to have my right hand man with me.”  
He turned to me with a grin that I couldn’t help but match.   
“So who was he exactly?” I set down the brush and moved to start braiding Azula’s mane.  
Keith grabbed the rubber bands from the ledge on the stall door and held one out to me, “Adam’s an old college friend of Shiro’s, they used to date before we moved out here, and now I just can’t get rid of him.”  
Azula stomped her hoof at a particularly sharp tug to her mane and send dust swirling around the small stall.  
I made a small humming sound and began to focus on Azula’s mane. Braiding isn’t always easy and sometimes it takes deep concentration to be able to get the braids just right. If you don’t pay enough attention they can end up uneven and awkward looking.   
Keith was casually leaning on Azula watching me braid with a quiet intensity. His hands were kept busy as I handed him spare strips of hair to hold while I braided the thick mane.   
We stood like that for a while, just existing peacefully while I braided and Keith watched.   
But all good things have to come to an end and before we knew it, I was up to jump.   
We did pretty well. I have a feeling that if I slept more last night I would have done better. We didn’t knock down any jumps or anything, but we were slower than normal and sloppy looking.   
Of course try telling that to Allura or Shiro, who were all proud of me for staying on.   
Keith did a really nice barrel run and Pidge got to show off some new and fancy tricks that she’s working on for the ARC in a few months. I went last year and placed fifth so I was invited to go again this year, but I just couldn’t find the motivation to want to show up in tight riding clothes and show off, only to place fifth.   
At the end of the day, we ended up with three new riders. An endurance rider named Shay that Hunk adores. A girl named Florona that’s never ridden before but wants to try her hand at trick riding, and Romelle who was finally convinced by Allura that she should try out dressage.   
While today may not have been my best ride, I got to see Keith, and that’s what matters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not proud of this :(   
> Send me fanart!!! Use the hashtag #notmyrodeofanart


End file.
